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JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – Almost everyone has at least one good idea to make the First Coast a better place, if only they had the funds to make it happen. Starting tomorrow, and for the next 90 days, anyone, anywhere on the First Coast — including civic groups— has the opportunity to earn $1,000 towards a new or existing initiative.

Now in its second year, Community First’s Investing In You contest will award $1,000 every two weeks for 90 days to fund innovative ideas for improving communities throughout the First Coast. Idea entries can be submitted through the credit union’s Facebook site. Last year’s winners included a variety of projects ranging from educational technology for at-risk kids to swimming tubs for rescued tigers.

“We launched the Investing in You campaign last year and were overwhelmed with the participation,” said John Hirabayashi, CEO of Community First Credit Union. “We had nearly one hundred great ideas submitted and thousands of online votes. We were thrilled to see the quantity and quality of ideas for community improvement. And we are proud to give back to the community in such a meaningful and personalized way.”

The 2012 initiative launches April 20 and culminates July 13. Any person or civic group with an idea about how to make the First Coast a better place can submit ideas through the Facebook site. Semi-finalists will be chosen based on which ideas received the most “likes,” with a panel selecting the six ideas that will receive grant funding from Community First.

Last year’s winners include:

“Living Out Loud” – a documentary about Jacksonville’s LGBT struggle for equal rights